Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler is a German businesswoman who has an estimated net worth of $5.05 billion as of March 2017, according to Bloomberg. She co-owns the Schaeffler Group with son, George Schaeffler. It includes Schaeffler AG, one of the largest producers of ball bearings and machine components in the world. In 2008, the company announced its debt-financed acquisition of the publicly traded tire and auto parts giant Continental AG for $15 billion. She and Georg already now own 46% of Continental or around $17 billion worth of stake.

Most of Maria-Elizabeth’s net worth comes from the success of Continental. However, she also took over in 1996 following the death of her husband, Georg, the manufacturing company that is now known as INA. Currently, she owns 20% of the umbrella company, INA Holding Schaeffler GmbH & Co. KG. In January 2013, she was named Family Business Woman of the Year 2012 by the representatives from the German business world and the business newspaper, Handelsblatt. She is also a member of the supervisory board of Continental and the vice chair of the supervisory board of Schaeffler.